2 months before echo Art Fair, I was in Bogota Colombia conducting Bike Dates, so the narratives for echo Art Fair are from both Buffalo and Bogota in Spanish and English.

Considering the environmental and transportation impact of cycling, the pieces at echo Art Fair act as collection sites. During the installation, I considered the pieces to be imprinted with the environmental conditions of Buffalo NY.

After echo Art Fair 8 pieces are sent to Bogota Colombia for the installation: Cosquilleos, zumbidos, interferencias electroacústicas y otras inconformidades sonoras at the venues El Sanatoria and El Parche.The printed QR codes, again, point to Bike Date narratives from both Bogota and Buffalo in Spanish and English.

Informed from the interrelated spaces of a historic hacienda and the neighboring town of Maravatio Mexico, the performance is situated in a caretaker’s kitchen at the hacienda of The Guapamacátaro Center for Art and Ecology. A gesture that acknowledges alienated labor, the audience of local residents accesses the performance through the single window the caretaker used to view the hacienda grounds outside.

Field video and audio recordings begun as initial research sketches for Harina, are used as the performance soundtrack and the projected view looking outward from the caretakers doorway, directly across from the viewing window.

During the research for Harina, I learned baking traditions from community matriarchs. Using the caretaker’s wood fired adobe oven, I began the performance day by baking 32 sweet breads, which I then packaged and distributed to the audience through the viewing window at the conclusion of the performance.

Pop-up books designed and fabricated with detritus from the hacienda and the town of Maravatio are research elements.

The video is a sketch study of the spaces and sounds I moved through while in Guapamacátaro and Maravatio.

Drawing on the data of the lived bodily experiences of the cyclist, my practice illustrates roadway infrastructure through audio recorded narratives. I engage people to sit and rest, and have a conversation with me about their experiences concerning transportation at the Rest Stop Bike Repair Shop.

As a site for basic bicycle repair, conversations at the Rest Stop Bike Repair Shop can begin with bike repair service.

“The trailer immediately drew me in—it appeared to be sitting alone, having a conversation with itself. I was transported within moments of sitting on the “throne”–it was very experiential to hear the individual anecdotes of people with their bikes, and I loved the freedom of being able to imagine who was speaking, where they were interviewed, etc. Such an important social experiment in/for this city.” Read about here:http://buffalorising.com/2013/10/laura-currys-community-engagement-station/

MANY THANKS to Chris Siano for his help and constant guidance during the trailer fabrication process. Thanks to Scott Vader at Buffalo Maker Space http://www.meetup.com/buffalolab/ and Jordan Dalton for help with the audio system. Thanks to the Department of Media Study at the University at Buffalo, the Pierre McAloon Award, and Techne Institute for Arts and Emerging Technologies for financial support.

Bike Date is an accompanied bike ride for two people at a time, the artist and the Bike Date participant. A practice-as-research art project, Bike Date documents the spatial and environmental perceptions of the embodied experience of Women, Trans, and Female identified (WTF) cyclists while on the roadway, and is conducted in North and South American Cities.

I consider Bike Date as the “Canary in the Coal Mine” to expose the risks of mobility in glocalized communities defined by economic and political structures.

Bike Date participants generate an audio recorded narration of their cycling experience during the ride, using a wireless microphone attached to their helmet strap. At the conclusion of the ride, the participant is asked for a visual representation of their experience. Bike Date components including photography, video audio and gps location data to describe the embodied experience of cycling while on the roadway. as roadway infrastructure.

Bike Date audio recordings and data may be presented as an installation in cities where Bike Date has been conducted.

The Bike Date audio recorded narratives have been accessed through large format printed QR codes.

Bike Date audio recordings have been accessed via a laminated booklet, zip tied to bike locking sites. The laminated booklets include a qr code pointing to a Bike Date audio recording, the transcription of the corresponding audio recording, and contact information to arrange a Bike Date.

Bike Date is supported in part by the Department of Media Study at the University at Buffalo, the Pierre McAloon Award, and Techne Institute for Arts and Emerging Technologies

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]]>Bike Date BookletlauracurryIMG_5041LauraCurry-talking-sweetness-7 2LauraCurry-riding-bikeTechne-BlkPerforming Spacehttps://lauracurry.com/2013/05/17/performing-space-2/
Fri, 17 May 2013 21:35:29 +0000http://lauracurry.com/?p=264I conduct a series of solo performances for the camera, which privileges the ears instead of eyes. I record my body pushing, pulling and dragging through a pathway of flour inside a 130 foot concrete grain elevator on Buffalo’s waterfront. My movement interrupts the silence, generating a sound different from what marked this site a century ago.

I project my single channel video performances onto fifty pounds of flour as an installation. The audience is invited to touch and manipulate the projection surface. Suspended headphones offer a private acoustic experience.

sonic_pondis a location-based sonic installation that uses intermediated interactivity to challenge our perception of place and environment. By placing sound as non-scripted interventions, Sonic Pond is a location based experience.

Wireless micro controllers discreetly nested in trees are the sonic point of entry. Responding to the proximity of the passer-by, a multilingual invitation to “come closer” is followed by subterranean sonic landscape recordings emitted from several bird’s nests located in tree branches overhead. As a second point of entry, participants are encouraged to pin their experiences as a feedback loop to the Sonic Pond web site.

The Agreement begins with public performances. These performances consist of one-on-one conversations between the artists and one audience member at a time in a public space, on the street, over the phone, via the internet.

The artists hold clipboards and welcome audience participants to engage in conversations about need and support. A computer and projector project Skype conversations with participants from anywhere in the world.

The public is invited to enter the performance/installation space and may choose to simply walk around and observe, or participate in dialogic performance with the artist. The audiences who choose to participate do so either in person, via Skype, or over the phone. The audience participants who engage with the artist via Skype (in response to online solicitations broadcast by the artist in advance of the performance dates) are projected onto the interior walls for in-person audience members to witness.The audience participants who engage with the artist via phone are placed on speaker for the in-person audience to hear.

The one-on-one conversations uncover something for which the audience participant seeks support. Support may be conducted and an issue resolved in the moment of initial performance, or the support relationship may continue for up to 6 months via Skype, emails, phone calls, mail, and/or in person meetings.

The artist and the audience participant create an agenda defining terms of support, which are written on a prepared form, titled The Agreement. The agreements are then publicly displayed where the artist act as a broker, creating a marketplace where Agreements are exchanged between participants. The artist request a reciprocal service from every audience participant who defines an Agreement need.

The agreements are represented as room a sized data visualization installation using felted yarn as an allegory to “felt fair value” for the service provider. Ephemera of dialogic performances (photos, left-behinds, and copies of individual Agreements) are posted as part of the multimedia installation for the duration of the project.

As a gallery installation, I attach Bike Date per-recorded audio excerpts to a stationary bike. The bike, bordered with astro turf on one side and roadway pavement markings on the other, simulates cycling on the road, while the audio provides an actual, and disturbing, roadway audio experience. Enlarged line drawings and laminated booklets from past Bike Dates, and fabricated bike fist roadway signs surround the audience while they pedal and listen.

Tempus Fugit evite copylauracurryBike Use and Health as Data Visualizationhttps://lauracurry.com/2013/04/19/bike-use-and-health-as-data-visualization/
Fri, 19 Apr 2013 19:04:44 +0000http://lauracurry.com/?p=833For my ongoing research as A.I.R.@ D.O.T world wide, this project was developed from my interest in the relationships between health, wellness and human-powered transportation. Please link on: health and bicycling to see examples of my findings, and my process.
]]>IMG_1502lauracurryA.I.R @ D.O.T WorldWidehttps://lauracurry.com/2012/11/11/night-time-wayfinding-for-bicyclists/
Sun, 11 Nov 2012 20:22:08 +0000http://lauracurry.com/2012/11/11/night-time-wayfinding-for-bicyclists/I am a self appointed Artist in Residence at Departments of Transportation WorldWide: A.I.R.@D.O.T.WW. As part of this practice, I install signage on roadways and adjacent spaces as safety interventions.

Example 1: “Bike Fist”

Way-finding signage on a light pole, and as a street tag help cyclists (and others) navigate the unlit pathway into a busy roadway.

Example 2: “Forced Consciousness”

The entrance/exit to a strip mall forces cars to cross a poorly placed and marked bike lane. The entrance/exit is yards from a busy intersection, forcing cyclists to merge into 3 lanes of traffic traveling 40 mph. The series of eyes express to automobile drivers: “HEY! WATCH IT, BUDDY!”